Sitting astride an e-bike wrapped in purple gaffer tape, Gustavo Ajche grabs the phone from his raincoat pocket and pulls up the Grubhub app as raindrops pool on the screen. It's a gloomy Saturday afternoon in New York City. After a long week working two jobs, Ajche says, ordinarily he might go home; he's done delivery for the apps long enough to know when it's sensible to call it a day. But I'm here to learn the economics of delivery work, so Ajche holds out his phone: This order is offering $13. Should he take it?
Ajche, who is 40, is the most visible spokesperson and organizer for Los Deliveristas Unidos, a campaign started in 2020 by appbased delivery workers to fight for safety protections and wages befitting their status as essential workers of the pandemic. On one level, their complaints are those of gig workers everywhere-a lack of transparency from their Silicon Valley employers, "flexible" jobs better understood as precarious ones. Yet the constraints of working in New York mean that deliveristas in Manhattan have little in common with Uber Eats drivers in Dallas or St. Louis. Unmanageable traffic, narrow roads, and a high premium on convenience have turned New York City delivery workers into the nation's largest two-wheeled workforce. According to a city government estimate, nearly half of the 60,000-plus people working full-time or part-time shepherding takeout for the apps get around on e-bikes, accounting for the lion's share of deliveries. One way to understand their fight for fair jobs is as a critique of a modern American city from behind the handlebars.
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Denne historien er fra Summer 2024-utgaven av Bicycling US.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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ONE MAN'S OBSESSIVE CRUSADE TO Take Down Zwift Cheats
Indoor cycling and virtual racing are booming, and so are the ranks of digital dopers abusing the platforms.
WHAT I LEARNED WHEN LOST IT ON A MOUNTAIN BIKE
A lifelong roadie tries singletrack for the first time. It did not go as planned.
THE UNLIKELY HERO WHO RECOVERED OVER 200 STOLEN BIKES IN ONE AMERICAN CITY
It was a sunny day in the summer of 2022. There were some things I had to move into the house, so I left the garage door open. I was gone less than 15 minutes.
YOU CAN BE MORE THAN JUST A CYCLIST
I'VE ALWAYS HAD A LOVE FOR SPORTS, starting with the usual team ones such as football and baseball. But that faded in favor of more individual pursuits. Watching my dad roll down the driveway to go for a ride, I wanted to do the same. The bike was my first taste of freedom, a freedom to do it my way.
THE RIGHT SADDLE CAN CHANGE YOUR LIFE
UP UNTIL RECENTLY, I WAS, AT BEST, A TWICEa-month cyclist.
HOW TO SAY GOODBYE TO THE RIDER YOU USED TO BE
CYCLISTS OF ALL LEVELS GO THROUGH various phases or eras over the years they spend in the saddle. For the vast majority of riders (myself included), these things happen privately, without fanfare.
BIKES MAKE THE WORLD A MORE INCLUSIVE PLACE
LIFE'S A BEAUTIFUL PUZZLE THAT COMES in all sorts of shapes, colors, and sizes.
WHAT MAKES A GOOD CYCLING SCENE, ANYWAY?
I'VE HAD THE PRIVILEGE OF INVOLVING myself in a few populous and dramatically different cycling communities.
CHOOSE GEAR THAT INSPIRES YOU TO HAVE FUN E
EVEN THOUGH I TEST LOADS OF CYCLING gear for a living, sometimes I get locked in on particular items and find it difficult to enjoy competing products, even if those products have obvious advantages.
WHY YOU DESERVE A CUSTOM BIKE
Custom. The word evokes passionate opinions about what constitutes a custom-made bike and who gets to ride one. There's this idea that they're wildly expensive pieces of functional art meant only for the fittest, fastest riders.
